Roma and Genoa were left with regrets after a dramatic 1-1 draw, as Antonio Mirante saved Antonio Sanabria’s stoppage-time penalty.
There was plenty of motivation all round at Marassi, as the Grifone were not safe from relegation, while the Giallorossi needed a win to keep up with fourth-placed Atalanta and close on stuttering Inter in third. Daniele De Rossi, Davide Santon and Diego Perotti were on the treatment table.
Roma and Genoa were left with regrets after a dramatic 1-1 draw, as Antonio Mirante saved Antonio Sanabria’s stoppage-time penalty.
There was plenty of motivation all round at Marassi, as the Grifone were not safe from relegation, while the Giallorossi needed a win to keep up with fourth-placed Atalanta and close on stuttering Inter in third. Daniele De Rossi, Davide Santon and Diego Perotti were on the treatment table.
The hosts started strong, as a Miguel Veloso free kick almost surprised Antonio Mirante at the near post, but Gianluca Lapadula sliding in could only glance it wide of the upright. Veloso went for it himself from distance, drilling off target, but Ionut Radu made the first save of the game on 19 minutes with spectacular reactions to claw a Federico Fazio header off the line from a corner.
Genoa continued to fire chances off target with Christian Kouame and Lapadula, while Edin Dzeko’s header skimmed the crossbar from another Aleksandar Kolarov corner kick.
Lapadula should’ve done better when Kostas Manolas failed to cut out Cristiano Biraghi’s cross, but he only nodded over from close range.
Lorenzo Pellegrini twice failed to make the most of promising Alessandro Florenzi crosses, the second blasted wide after a Dzeko knock-down.
Zaniolo’s ferociously dipping left-foot curler from the edge of the box was acrobatically fingertipped over the bar by Radu in the second half.
Lapadula had a series of opportunities that he either snatched at or volleyed over the bar, but Radu had to prevent an own goal, as the corner took a massive ricochet off Veloso’s face from point-blank range.
Only a desperate block stopped Patrik Schick tapping in the Kolarov low cross into the six-yard box.
Roma finally found a way through in style with eight minutes left on the clock. Schick flicked on the cross from the right and El Shaarawy watched it come down to place a precise left-foot volley into the far bottom corner from a tight angle. It was a particularly special goal for the Little Pharaoh, who started his career at Genoa.
Alessandro Florenzi went off with a muscular injury, but the hosts managed to equalise at the 90th minute on a corner. Defender Cristian Romero was allowed to jump between Nzonzi and Schick and nod in from close range.
It still wasn’t over, as suddenly Genoa’s tails were up and a long ball was knocked down by Kouame for substitute (and former Roma player) Tonny Sanabria, with Mirante clattering into him for a penalty.
At the 96th minute at Marassi, Sanabria stepped up and Mirante made up for the error by parrying the admittedly weak and central penalty.
Genoa 1-1 Roma
El Shaarawy 82 (R), Romero 90 (G)
Genoa: Radu; Biraschi, Romero, Zukanovic, Criscito; Radovanovic, Lerager (Sanabria 83), Veloso; Bessa (Rolon 92), Lapadula (Pandev 73), Kouame
Roma: Mirante; Florenzi (Karsdorp 88), Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov; Nzonzi, Cristante; Zaniolo (Kluivert 70), Pellegrini (Schick 66), El Shaarawy; Dzeko
Ref: Mazzoleni
Saved penalty: Sanabria 96 (G)